Running
by I'm Nerdy and I Know it
Summary: This is the story of Cassandra and Bridget, but really, just call them Ollie and Dodge. Freshly showered, they're under clothed, under prepared, and just plain out of luck. Follow them on their very own adventure through Middle Earth. Because you know, they'll just have to keep running. "...And neither of us are wearing shoes."
1. Chapter 1

Ok so this is my second ever story. I like to multi-task, so fans of Magma needn't worry, they'll both be written at the same time!

 _ **Disclaimer** \- As is per usual, I own nothing! Zilch! Zip! Nada! Except for my lovely OC's and any other randomers I add, everything else belongs t Tolkien or Peter Jackson!_

* * *

Once upon a time...

* * *

Our story begins in a room. But this wasn't a brightly lit, cheerful room; it was a simple, cozy room. The room was dark, and two figures huddled in the centre, swathed in thick blankets, surrounded by pillows, as well as bowls and plates over flowing with food. It wasn't cold, but the blankets had been carefully, _strategically_ tucked over and under legs, and were now being clasped beneath the chins of two young women, who stared wide eyed at the flickering television screen.

For you see, this was the living room of one Cassandra Twist, "Ollie" to her friends. One such friend, Bridget Daize, better known as "Dodge", was huddled next to her, their legs over lapping as they nibbled on cold pizza whilst they watched the final scenes of one of their top movies play out.

Ollie was currently the sole occupant of the house, as her family had gone away for the weekend, and signs of her seclusion were everywhere.

Her laptop was open and sitting on the long dining room table, the wires from the charger tangled along the wood to drop off at the end. The charger was plugged into a socket, which also housed her phone charger.

The kitchen was clean...ish. A few bowls and plates, the odd pot or pan, maybe a small puddle of milk on the work surface, but still clean enough.

Books on the care and welfare of animals piled high beside her laptop, and a variety of books she read just for fun were scattered around the living room. Monuments to her passion as a book worm.

Beside the TV was the historical romance tower, next to the DVD's was the pillar of horror, and finally, poetry and legend came together in the skyscraper balanced lovingly on the coffee table.

As the chorus of Journey's hit song plays out, the two girls jump up, and start dancing round the living room, holding hands and spinning round, screaming at the top of their lungs.

"Don't stop! Believing! Hold on to that feeling yeah!"

"Street lights...people oh oh ohhh!"

The pair collapsed back onto the cushioned floor, breathless, and started talking.

"Can you believe? I mean, I didn't know Tom Cruise could sing!" Ollie exclaimed.

"I know right! It's just...I mean...gosh I just _can't_ right now!" Dodge sighed, flopping dramatically onto her back, sending a bowl of popcorn flying and spreading it's contents all over the floor.

"Shit Dodge, can you _not_? We have to clean this all up tomorrow you know!" scolded Ollie as she scrabbled through the debris to grab at the remote. She made a noise of disgust when she realised something sticky had, at some point, attached itself to the device, and she wiped it off on the duvet with a shudder.

"So what next?" she said, remote hovering infront of the tv.

"Shh, can't talk, Tom Cruise induced coma over here, let me enjoy it." muttered Dodge from her place on the floor, lifting up a lazy hand to indicate herself before allowing it to flop down lazily beside her.

"Wow, just wow." laughed Ollie, as she scrambled over her friends legs to eye up their pile of selected movies. The majority of them were musicals, with a few actions and adventures thrown in. The girls had seen every one in that pile at least twice, but love made them enjoy them more, not less, with each viewing. Ollie was in a musical mood tonight, and plucked a golden oldie from the pile, and dangled it above her friends prone from, humming one of the best known songs in the world.

She knew the humming would get Dodge's attention, as neither of them could resist a sing-a-long.

"Yes! Oh my god yes! Yes! That is it! Put it on, now!" Ollie squealed in excitement as she threw "Grease" into the DVD player, and huddled back into place beside Dodge. Back in the cosy duvet-slash-igloo they had created, they both "assumed the position"; duvet over head, legs criss-crossed over each other, hands clasping the duvet together beneath their chins. The pair couldn't keep still, a mixture of too much sugary junk food and plain old fashioned excitement gave the pair a bad case of the wiggles.

"ICE CREAM!" shouted Ollie suddenly.

"What?" shouted Dodge back, giving her hysterical friend a look.

"We. Need. Ice cream."

"No."

"Yes."

"Why?"

" 'Cause."

There was a brief, wide eyed stare-off, but Dodge sighed and jumped up to go and grab the ice-cream. Truth be told, she really wanted some too. Ice cream and Grease? A better combination she'd never heard.

When she returned with the whole 500ml tub of Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ben and Jerry's ice cream and two large spoons, her best friend in the entire universe had lovingly paused the film to await her return. They settled down, resumed their position, though with their hands free to scoop up the slightly defrosted, gloopy deliciousness, and then entered the world of 1950's America. Musical style.

* * *

Ollie woke up to bird song. Really, irritating, birdsong. Groaning, she lifted her head. Her thick dark purple hair stuck to the position it had been in on the floor, the side she'd been lying on plastered against her face and tangled about her head. She rubbed at her cheek, where three pieces of popcorn fell from her skin, and her hand encountered yet more of the disgusting goo that had been on the remote last night.

 _Last night._

Ollie groaned again, loudly, when she saw the state of her living room. Popcorn was gathered in little clumps everywhere, looking as though it had grown from the dark green carpeting like daisies in a field. Thankfully, the pizza was still on its' designated plate, but the tub of Ben and Jerry's had somehow landed on its' side in front of the TV, melted ice cream creating an interesting brown puddle around the wayward tub. God only knew where the spoons were at this point.

Wiggling her tongue around, she recognised the tell-tale stale furry-ness that could only truly come from a night of semi-heavy drinking, and released another irritated groan at the sight of several bottles littering the sides and floor.

Rubbing at the sticky patch on her face, she vaguely remembered tearing up at Sandys' "Hopelessly Devoted To You", and that Dodge decreed alcohol would be required for any and all "mushy-teary girl crap". Unfortunately both girls, though they could hold their alcohol, were relative lightweights and became drunk quickly, as they were sobbing by Rizzo's performance, and sang a very slurred, very teary "There Are Worse Things I Could Do". That song spoke to them on a deep, spiritual level.

Forgoing another groan, Ollie decided to sigh at the mess instead, and began eyeing up the pile of DVD's she had no recollection of watching, though none of them were in their cases, and "The Labrynth" was even in the DVD player.

"Dodge." she called, poking her toe at a large lump beneath the duvet that looked vaguely human shaped.

"Dodge!" she tried, though her dry throat prevented her getting any real volume. Ollie decided to just kick the lump instead.

Aiming at the thicker bundle of grey and white striped fabric that seemed to gather in the arse area, or at least, that's what she guessed, she pressed both feet against it and pushed _hard_.

" _What?_ " shouted the bundle.

"Get your arse up. We need to tidy before things one, two and three get back."

The bundle made an unintelligible groaning noise before shifting to reveal the blonde haired girl underneath. Dodge looked as bad as Ollie felt.

Her blonde hair was in a slightly better state, being straight rather than wavy, but her tank top had a suspicious dark stain running down the front, deepening the pink to burgundy-brown. Her eyes were puffy, the dark circles making the chocolate orbs seem even darker.

Ollie eyed her face enviously, noting the lack of sticky goo.

"The fuck is on my face?" she muttered.

The brown eyes narrowed in intense concentration at Ollie's cheek, before taking in their chaotic surroundings.

"...Melted Haribo."

"What?"

"Melted. Haribo."

"When did we melt Haribo's?"

"No idea, but it looks like you have the remains of two teddy bears on your face." Groaned Dodge as she stood on wobbly legs. Ollie had to admit to some slight satisfaction when she noticed the stain on her pink shirt had apparently travelled all the way down her fluffy pyjama bottoms.

"The fuck is on my clothes?" she asked.

"...Ben and Jerry's."

"...Well fuck. These are my favourite bottoms!"

Ollie made the appropriate consoling noises as she de-tangled herself from her own duvet, and then the girls preceded to tidy up their mess.

Duvets were stripped and thrown into the washing machine, DVDs were put back in their correct cases,

"Dodge, do you remember watching any of these? I don't remember shit after Grease."

"Umm, I remember singing along to David Bowie."

"Oh yeah, we had that whole thing about his tights."

"Mmhmm..."

empty bottles were thrown away, full ones were placed into the fridge, the dreaded hoover was taken out to suck up the popcorn, much to the disgust of two pounding heads. Everything was cleaned, water had been consumed by the bottle full, and now the girls were standing over their biggest challenge yet.

"I say...hot water and washing-up liquid with a bit of elbow grease."

"No, if we scrub, the carpet'll stain."

"...shit."

They were, of course, standing above the horrific Ben and Jerry's ice cream tub.

"At least your carpet's not white."

Ollie directed a half hearted glare towards her best friend, before wobbling her way over to the computer, where she took a seat, and began googling their problem.

"Did you find the spoons?" she asked.

"In the sink."

"So we actually did something _intelligent_ last night?"

"I know, right?"

Ollie scanned through the internet for a solution while Dodge rubbed her aching head, leaning against the wall that separated living room from kitchen, before her first genuinly bright idea of the day caused her to move suddenly into the kitchen itself. Ollie didn't move, or even notice her absence really, until a glass of cold water was placed on the table beside her with a clunk, two little white tablets sitting beside it.

Ollie turned to see her friend chugging her own glass before slumping dramatically to the floor, head leant against the cream wall.

"Oh Nurofen, blessed be the pill that takes this ache away!"

Ollie eyed her own pills suspiciously.

"Don't worry, yours are just run of mill paracetamol." sighed Dodge.

The pills were down Ollie's throat before she'd finished talking. Taking a big gulp of air after chugging all that water, she sighed.

"You genius..."

"I try."

"Why didn't we think of that earlier?"

They chose to ignore that particular question.

Finally finding a reasonable idea on Google, the two set down to clean the spillage. It took five trips to the kitchen, bringing back fresh cold water and cleaning the cloths, but soon the ice cream itself was gone and all that was left to do was ensure it wouldn't stain. After emptying the water a sixth time and collecting a clean new sponge, Ollie told Dodge to go have the shower she was dying for.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, by the time I've done this you'll be out and I can jump straight in, so go ahead."

"Thank you!" Dodge called from the stair case.

Ollie was just finishing off blotting away the last of any noticeable staining when she heard the shower cut off. Brushing her tangle of hair out of the way, she looked up to the ceiling, heart leaping in joy when she heard Dodge moving out of the bathroom and back to Ollie's bedroom.

Not bothering to throw the water away into the kitchen, she leapt up and ran towards the stair case and the sweet relief of running water.

The bathroom itself was still steaming from Dodge's shower, but Ollie reached over and immediately switched the water back on before running quickly to her room.

"Just grabbing a change of clothes!" she yelled, and then aww'd when she saw Dodge had taken out her black shorts, blue tank, denim jacket, and knee-high fluffy black socks, and left them across her bed.

She reached over and grabbed the blonde from behind in a quick hug as she ruffled her hair in a towel, before grabbing her favourite underwear and taking it all into the bathroom with her.

The warm water was sheer bliss as it ran down her body, washing away all trace of last night. She washed her hair twice with conditioner to get the tangles out, before dragging a wide toothed comb through it. She then grabbed her favourite facial scrub, tea tree, and went to town on her face, scrubbing hard on her cheek to get rid of any and all gummy bear or other Haribo representative that had taken root. She also brushed her teeth and shaved. She sighed when she saw that all her products were nearly empty, but she'd packed all her full ones ready for their girls camping trip. It was gonna be amazing!

Finally satisfied that she'd checked all the cleanliness boxes, she grudgingly turned the steaming water off and climbed out.

Her bathroom was amazing. The walls were covered in large, sandstone tiles which gave an air of luxury, the shower was set off into one corner, while the bath was straight ahead when you walked in, the shower curtain wasn't really a curtain, but was made of foggy glass, and all the appliances were woody brown. Best of all was the full length mirror by the side of the bath tub. Though really, it depended on your taste. Most said it added an air of charm to the room, others said it made it really easy to do your make-up. For Ollie, it was an inescapable reminder of where she'd come from.

Whenever she left the shower, she couldn't help but be drawn to the mirror; which, thanks to strategically placed open windows, never really fogged up. When she looked at her full length, naked reflection she could see the scars of her past. Literally.

She'd had a large tattoo of a stag leading a group of does with other animals such as birds and frogs in black and grey commissioned to the upper portion of her arm, this hid the worst of her scars, though you could still see if you looked closely enough. But she couldn't hide all of them, no matter how much she wanted to.

Small, round scars dotted along her arms, areas of her chest, and her upper thighs. There was even one behind her ear, but that was easy enough to hide.

Ollie was a foster child. This wasn't really her home, not in her mind. To her, home was a foreign concept. She'd been with this family five years, and was happy. She knew she was too old for them to seriously consider adopting her, especially with her father in prison arguing that "he'd changed" and would "be a real father" when he got out, but they never said anything about kicking her out when she turned 18 two years ago. Her foster mother and father, and their son, were the best thing she could have, close to a family, but not quite. Those scars would always remind her, lest she forgot.

She sighed, and pulled on her clothes, wiggling her toes happily in their warm socks. She unlocked the bathroom door, and left in a cloud of thick steam, flipping her head over to rub at her hair.

"Dodge? I was thinking we could go to Honey's for a full english? It'd be nice after last night, then we can set off? Plus, I really need to eat something so I can take my...whoa!"

Ollie suddenly found herself flat on her face beside Dodge, who was sitting with her legs crossed and looking wildly around, a wet towel forgotten in her lap.

Ollie scrambled upright, brushing dirt and leaves off of her clothes.

"Dodge..." she began, but stopped.

They were in the middle of a forest.

A fucking forest.

 _This is_ _ **not**_ _where my bathroom leads_ , Ollie thought. Out loud, she had only one thing to say.

"The fuck...?"

* * *

 _Stop hyperventilating! Hyperventilating is_ _ **not**_ _the answer here!_ Thought Ollie in a blind panic. How did they get here? The last time she checked there was no forest in her fucking house.

"Fuck me." whispered Dodge.

"Nice to see you can talk again now!" shouted Ollie, her voice high and screechy in fear as she paced back and forth behind her silent friend. Clearly, they had different coping mechanisms.

"Don't yell at me, I didn't know your house had its' own fucking forest!"

"Don't start, neither did I!"

The pair stared hard at each other, before Ollie rolled her eyes and flopped to the ground next to her friend. They leant close to one another, needing the comfort and normality each provided.

Ollie's sock covered knees brushed against Dodge's bare ones, and she leant over to wrap her arm around Dodge's shoulders. Dodge had also chosen to wear shorts, though hers were dark blue denim, and her orange shirt read "I don't run, and if your ever see me running, you should run too, because something is probably chasing me." in black writing, which she wore beneath a black zip-up hoodie.

"Ok..." she began, voice wobbling, "So, how much did we drink this time?" It was a crap joke, but they both giggled anyway, they knew that no time had passed since they left the shower, their wet hair was proof enough.

"Well...I didn't see anything, my towel was over my head, you?" asked Ollie, since Dodge had fallen silent again.

"Mine too." she said, staring into the forest, and then abruptly straightening like someone had given her an electric shock.

"Oh fuck _off_!" she yelled, jumping up and storming to the bushes.

"What? Dodge what are you doing?" call Ollie, jumping to her feet after her friend, who turned around with...

"Are those our camping bags?" she said in disbelief.

"Yes they are our god damned fucking camping bags!" she yelled, "Fuck!"

Dodge screamed the profanity, throwing the bags down at her friends feet.

The two bags were very large back packs, one was dark purple, the other dark green. Both had matching sleeping bags rolled up small and attached securely to the bottom, with matching metal 1ltr water cannisters attached and placed snugly into the bottle holder on the side.

Reaching for her own purple bag, Ollie dug through, finding her shampoo, conditioner, facial scrub, facial mask, a spare pair of clothes, money, book of myths and legends, book of poetry, toothbrush and toothpaste, deodorant, tampons, mints, hair brush, razor and cream, hair bands, bobby pins, soap, lip balm, nivea moisturising cream, a Swiss army knife, matches, and most importantly; her three week supply of tablets.

She knew that Dodge's bag contained almost identical items, including another three week supply of Ollie's tablets, though she carried a book on wild plants rather than legends, as she planned on studying the local flora on their camping trip.

Or at least, she had planned to.

"Ok...so we've arrived at the buttcrack of nowhere after stepping out of the shower, with nothing but what we're wearing and the camping bags we'd packed...anything else we should know?" ranted Ollie irritably, storming back and forth as she kicked at tufts of grass. She kicked gently though, as she had no shoes.

" _Fuck_. And neither of us are wearing shoes." she grumbled.

Dodge had gone silent again, standing rigidly where she stood behind Ollie.

"Run." she whispered.

"What?" asked Ollie, turning to face her friend.

"Run!" Screamed Dodge, grabbing both bags.

Ollie simply stared behind her, as the ugliest, largest, creepiest wolf she'd ever seen pricked up its ears in their direction, before giving a chilling howl and racing towards them.

Ollie registered her purple bag flying towards her, and caught it with a grunt, shoving her arms through the straps, before taking off in the same direction as her friend.

"What the fuck is that!" she screamed.

"How the fuck should I know? Just run!"

They ran.

They ran as fast as they could, jumping over roots and stones, ducking under branches, weaving through the trees'. Desperately trying to run for their lives whilst still keeping sight of each other. Neither dared look back, as they could hear the deep panting and heavy foot falls of the creature behind them. Ollie could swear she felt the hot breeze of heavy breath on the back of her neck.

"Oh crap." Ollie breathed to herself, as she saw another shadow of a creature moving to their side.

"Dodge!" she called out, but Dodge suddenly wasn't there. With an anguished cry, she'd fallen off the edge of a hidden outcrop.

"Dodge!" she called again in panic, speeding her way to where she'd last seen her friend, just to go sailing over the edge as well.

The outcrop wasn't steep so much as it was sudden, and it broke into bits and pieces, like a rocky stairway, which Ollie went bouncing and rolling down after falling from that first steep step.

She landed on the ground a few feet away from her target, Dodge's prone form lay spread eagled on the damp forest floor. Her pack had saved her head from any strong blows, but it seemed that Dodge had not been so lucky, as Ollie could see a streak of deep red on her forehead.

The worst part was, several large men stood between them.

She scrambled up in a panic, throwing herself forward towards her friend.

"Dodge! Dodge wake up!" she cried, shaking the blondes shoulders.

"Here now lass..." said a soft voice from beside her.

"Back off!" she yelled, swinging round to face the stranger. His hair was the purest white she'd ever seen, and he had the most interesting beard. Though he looked kind enough, she wasn't taking any chances with her unconscious friend and a creature chasing them.

"Lass calm down..." he tried again, reaching for her shoulder.

"I said _back the fuck off_!" she roared, crouching over Dodge protectively.

When he held his hands up, she scanned the rest of the group. They were all men, and they all had beards, and very interesting ones at that. When one particularly well groomed specimen made to walk forward, she tensed, grabbing a large rock that was near her hand.

The original white haired man made waving motions to his group, and they all took one step back.

 _I really don't like the way you guys are looking at me_ , she continued to glare as she shook at Dodge's shoulder.

"Dodge? Dodge wake-up. Seriously we need to go! Dodge!"

"She's unconscious lass." spoke the white haired man plainly.

"Yes I can fucking see that!"

"Well, she took a tumble. Wont wake for a while I imagine."

Breathing heavily, Ollie looked about the group of men, should she trust them?

The answer; of course not.

Throwing her weapon to the ground, she quickly checked to make sure Dodge could still breathe, before gathering her into a firemans carry over her shoulder. She wobbled at first but steadied, and looked up to see all the men frowning at her.

"Lass...?"

"I ain't trustin' ya." she said, then coughed and swallowed. Her accent became stronger when she was frightened.

"You may want to run." she said, before turning and stumbling as fast as she could, her friend over her shoulder. Luckily, Ollie was the larger of the two girls. Neither were particularly large, but Ollie was rounder, curvier, and stockier than her slim friend. Today that came in handy.

She heard snarling from behind, followed by whimpering, and suddenly a roar combined with a slashing sound that was so unexpected that she tripped over her own two feet, landing hard on the ground.

When she turned, she saw that the two wolf creatures had been cut down by the strange group of men.

She definitely did not want to be a part of that party.

She managed to roll herself and Dodge between two tree roots, hoping that would be enough coverage. Checking Dodge again, she arranged her into the recovery position before curling herself into a ball, and sticking her hands into her wet hair, breathing harshly in pure panic.

"Just breathe, just breathe. Oh my shit. Oh god, ok." she whispered to herself, fear and panic digging their claws firmly in and destroying any logical thought.

Her eyes were screwed shut, and her hands had partially covered her ears, and so she didn't hear the group of men until she opened her eyes and saw them standing in front of her.

She squeaked in fear, spreading her hands across the damp ground, sifting through the leaf litter in search of a large rock, but didn't find anything at all to defend herself with. Instead, she covered Dodge from view again.

"How did you know we were here?" barked the man directly in front of her. His voice rumbled like thunder, his eyes flashed like twin sapphires, and his dark hair ruffled lightly in the breeze. He was the specimen she'd noticed earlier, and should the situation be different, she may have even turned to the phrase "Humana humana", with plenty of open mouthed gaping. But for now, she settled with:

"Piss off!"

His eyes flashed dangerously as his brows lowered, and he took two dangerous steps forward. She quaked and cowered back in fear.

"Thorin! Leave them be!" called an angry, _powerful_ voice.

Chest heaving, Ollie squinted up into the sunlight, where she could make out the silhouettes of two very tall, elderly men in strange hats.

"You said we were being hunted, and these two tumbled right into our laps moments before the wargs did." The man, Thorin, snapped.

"Look at them! They are frightened and alone, do you really think they are the sort to cavort with orcs and wargs?" The tall mans voice grew darker, louder, and more powerful with each word, and Ollie looked up, wide eyed and opened mouthed, "They were running for their lives, now leave them be!"

The tallest man squatted down to sit beside her on her tree root, the second tallest hovering near by whilst the dark haired one skulked back to his group. The tall man, cloaked completely in grey, pulled a pipe from somewhere in his robe, and began fiddling with it calmly. Ollie found herself fixated on the old fashioned, wooden pipe, and found the scratching sounds as the man cleaned oddly comforting.

"Gandalf, we have no time for this." growled the dark haired man, sending another glare towards Ollie.

"Hush now Thorin, we will wait...until this young lady is ready." with this he tapped his wooden pipe twice onto a rock, then began to fill it. It was only once the sweet smell of smoke began filling her nose that Ollie was able to close her mouth. She blinked owlishly a few times, and slowly looked from one man to another, until her gaze landed back on the dark haired, growling man.

"Well fuck me." she breathed.

He blinked, face slackening in shock, then glared again, growling.

"Excuse me?"

But Ollie had already swung her head back to the grey man smoking his pipe.

"I'm sorry but...can you not? Dodge is asthmatic." He gave her a long look, before nodding, and putting the pipe out and quickly away.

"You seem a lot calmer now my dear." he said gently.

"Shock." she stated.

"Ah."

The intense staring continued.

"Please tell me I hit my head too. Say I'm currently passed out somewhere and my head is just coming up with some crazy hallucination bullshit."

"I'm afraid not." the grey man chuckled.

 _Not man,_ she thought, _Wizard_.

"You're Gandalf the Grey." He smiled.

"I am."

"And Radagast the Brown." said Wizard waved.

"And...and..." she stumbled, "So many bloody dwarves."

Gandalf sputtered into laughter, and she heard a small snort from just behind him. Ollie craned her head around to look, and was then pretty sure her jaw touched the floor.

"OHMYGOSHANDAHOBBIT!" she squeaked.

"E-Excuse me?" said creature spluttered.

"You're Bilbo Baggins of Bag-End!"

"Well done! You seem to have come to terms, now, what do you say to more running?" she pulled her fan-girl façade together to look back up at the now standing wizard.

" _More_ running?" she groaned.

"Yes, well, we do have an orc pack to out run." he said with a wink.

"Oh. Yeah." Ollie said sheepishly, before turning to look at her still unconscious friend.

"But what about Dodge?" she cried, "I can't leave her here!"

"I'll take her. She'll be perfectly safe, I'll drop her off where you can pick her up later." said Radagast with a wink.

Ollie stared hard into the craggly face. The dude was eccentricity given form; bird shit on his face, weird hat, weird clothes. Like a hippy only better. He wasn't mentioned much in the books, appearing more as a benevolent by-stander than anything, but the films portrayed him as a quirky old guy with lots of love.

That was when she noticed the small mice poking their noses out of his jacket.

Well, if the animals think he's ok...

And so it was with a lot of heaving and puffing, on Ollie's part, that they loaded Dodge onto his rabbit driven sleigh. He even offered to take Ollie's pack, since it was so bright it could attract attention, which she warily gave up to tuck in beside Dodge.

Before he could take off, she leant over, kissing Dodge's forehead.

"I'll see you later." she whispered, before the wizard sped off.

"Now then, we'll take these few moments to introduce ourselves while Radagast draws them off." Ollie had still been staring off into the distance where Radagast had disappeared with her best friend in the universe, but had turned at the awkward silence following Gandalfs statement.

Thirteen blank stares greeted her, though a handful were clearly hostile in nature.

"Um hi. I'm Cassandra Twist, people call me Ollie."

A dwarf inturrupted her.

"Why?"

His hair was blonde, and he had the most adorable braids in his moustache. Ever a fan of the films and book, Ollie had already put names to faces.

"Long story, Fili."

 _Ooops_.

"I don't remember introducing ourselves to you." growled a very large, very bald, generally just plain scary-looking dwarf.

"Even longer story, Dwalin."

"So," growled Thorin, "You know all our names?"

"Yep?" she gulped, wide eyed. They really liked to growl a lot. She suddenly had an uncontrollable urge to laugh, and couldn't stop the few chuckles that escaped.

"And were followed here by wargs?"

"If those are the scary wolf things, then um," she snorted, trying to pull herself together, " yep."

"What's so funny?" asked Kili.

"Well, you all keep growling," she began shaking, in fear, shock, or amusement, probably all three, "I'm half expecting you to bark!"

Only Bilbo seemed to find that funny, and so the giggling quickly stopped. The shuddering however did not. And judging by the ache in her cheeks, she was grinning like a maniac.

"And you expect me to believe she is not working with them!" he glowered at the wizard, and his tone cause Ollie to shrink back.

"Yes, I do." said Gandalf, simply and with a wealth of seriousness behind each syllable.

"Wait...you guys are dwarves?" asked Ollie, thoroughly confused.

"I thought you'd already figured that out." Kili muttered suspiciously.

"But...I should be taller than you then."

They all turned to look her up and down, though it was mostly down, since she appeared to be shorter than them all by several inches.

"Why's that then?" asked who she assumed to be Bofur, what with his wierd hat and all.

" Well unless I've shrunk, I'm five foot four."

They all blinked at her.

"Well that's simple enough." said Gandalf. "You've shrunk."

Ollie blinked at him.

"By about a foot, maybe a foot and a few inches, I'd hazard." he continued.

"Oh fuck this!" she yelled, "Like five fucking four wasn't short enough, I've been fucking shrunk now too? I really hate this fucking day!"

"Language young lady!" called a stern voice, which belonged to a dwarf with white hair that had been braided very neatly.

She huffed.

"Sorry Dori."

"Well then, any other questions, we should be about ready to set off." chimed Gandalf.

"Yes mister Gandalf," said Dori, before sniffing and looking down at Ollie's legs, "What on middle earth are you wearing lass?"

Ollie looked down at her legs, which had scratches and new bruises blooming across her thighs, and her socks were torn in some places. She wiggled her feet about so she could see the soles better, and hissed at the state they were in; torn and bloody. No wonder her feet stung.

"Shorts," she said with a shrug, "And what used to be my favourite pair of socks. Better than nothing I guess."

The whole group spluttered.

"Most of what you're wearing _is_ nothing!" he cried.

"Enough for now, plenty of time for questions later! Run!" cried Gandalf, setting a quick pace, the dwarves falling in behind him.

Bifur was the only one to notice her reluctance to move, grunting something unintelligible at her before grasping her upper arm and pushing her ahead of him.

Ollie sighed. And more bloody running it was then.

* * *

Well, there it is! Let me know what you guys think! Also, an internet cookie to anyone who guesses Ollie's "Disability", or "Health issue" whatever you want to call it. I've always wanted to read about a character who had to overcome more than just Middle Earth itself, or any personality clashes, I've been curious as to how someone with a real-life day to day issue would cope. So we've been told about Dodge, now set your minds to Ollie! There'll be more clues next chapter! Have a lovely day guys, love-ooo x


	2. Chapter 2

So this took a while, but its kinda long so there ;) your reviews have been beautiful, thank you very much!

 _ **Disclaimer:** Middle Earth and all its characters belong to Sir Tolkein (With the exception of some of Peter Jacksons additions) I do not own the universe or the story, but the Main OC and any future OCs are mine._

* * *

Remind me of the babe...

* * *

Ollie was _not_ feeling well. The shaking in her limbs hadn't stopped despite the running, her chest hurt from the exercise, her feet hurt from being torn up, and the bloody hallucinations weren't going away.

Dwarves. 13 dwarves. And a hobbit. _The_ hobbit. And a wizard.

Dwarves and hobbits and wizards, oh my!

The most worrying thing was that the right side of her face was feeling numb and droopy. Ollie hoped it was just where she'd hit her head, and prayed to anything or anyone that was listening that it'd go away soon. She did _not_ need anything else to happen today, thank you very much.

The long, dry grass they were currently running across was much nicer on her feet than the forest floor, but there were large, sharp stones every where, and she'd bitten her lip hard several times to keep from crying out and blowing their cover.

Currently, however, she was pressed tightly against some rocks, hand over her mouth to keep her breathing quiet. Dwarves to her left and right doing the same. She remembered this scene from the movie, but was finding it very hard to be anything other than winded and terrified as Thorin nodded to his nephew. Kili took a deep breath, steeling himself, before darting forward and shooting down the warg that had been prowling above their heads.

The shot didn't kill it, and the poor creature and its disgusting rider were dispatched quickly in bloody, screaming slaughter. Tears began streaming down Ollie's face, flowing freely as she hiccuped in fear.

The older, white haired dwarf whom she'd been so rude to, Balin, gripped her hand.

"It'll be all right lass, just keep running." he murmured reassuringly.

"Did...did you have to kill the wolf too?" she spluttered.

"It was a warg!" snapped Dwalin, "Stop being such a child, it would've killed us, now run!"

And they were off again.

Ollie wiped furiously at her cheeks, swiping at the tears that just wouldn't stop falling. Her feet hurt, she was dizzy, and she was not going to be able to keep running like this.

Suddenly, everyone stopped, gathering in groups and looking around wildly.

"We're surrounded!"

"Where's Gandalf?"

"He's abandoned us!"

Air couldn't come quickly enough to Ollie's starved lungs, as she bent over coughing, tears and sweat stinging at her eyes. Balin stood close to her, sword at his side, holding his arm out to push her back slightly as wargs and orcs crept ever closer. Ollie straightened with difficulty, head spinning and blood pounding behind her temples; she felt like absolute shit. She had to stay focused, she could die out here.

 _Oh shit, I could_ _ **really**_ _die here._

With that comforting thought, her eyes began to swing around wildly as she turned on the spot, grass swishing around her legs, scratching at the backs of her knees, as she tried to watch the orcs, wargs, and dwarves simultaneously. _And_ tried to keep an eye out for Gandalf as well.

 _Where is he? He's meant to pop out from around here somewhere_ , she thought in confusion.

On one of her turns, she noticed a riderless warg as it crept closer to Ori, who catapulted stone after stone at it to no avail. Now, she'd never know if it was bravery, stupidity, or just a heat-of-the-moment thing, but Ollie suddenly sprang forward, throwing herself at the young dwarf as the warg leapt towards him. She landed against him hard, throwing them both into the dirt as the warg went flying over them by mere inches, before one of Kili's arrows found its mark in the creatures eye.

Ollie lay on her side, panting, sharing a wide eyed look of total shock with the dwarf she'd just saved as they lay side by side.

"Ollie!" screamed a familiar voice.

"Ollie over here!"

It was Dodge! Ollie sat up so fast that her vision blurred for a moment, and sure enough, there she stood. Dodge's upper half seemed to sprout from a large grey rock as if it had grown there, her arms waving wildly to get the purple-loving girls attention. Gandalf also popped up beside her, bellowing;

"This way you fools!"

And suddenly it was all about the running again.

Ori grabbed her by the arm and dragged her up, pulling her alongside as he made a mad dash for the hidden passage. Thorin stood protectively over it, making sure everyone got through. Ori jumped down before her, and when she wavered, Thorin grabbed her arm and pushed her down.

"Go!" he roared, and his voice echoed in her ears even after he left her sight.

* * *

Going down the hole was kind of like going down a waterslide. If the water park had been hit by an earthquake, covered in thumb-tacks, and drained of all the water. Ollie rolled head over arse into the dark and the gloom, landing with a hard thud on her back.

 _Far too much has happened today_ , she thought dumbly, as she stared at the roof of the cave-like structure she'd fallen into. Before she'd even had a moment to take a full breath, it felt like the whole damn place landed on her. Except caves don't generally have lots of dark hair.

Thorin, because it just _had_ to be him, groaned quietly as he pushed off of her. Leaning on his elbows, he gazed down at her with an almost soft expression. Which quickly turned into another lovely glare.

Ollie really couldn't be arsed to give him one of her own glares, and so just huffed, and groaned.

"Get off will ya?" she complained. His eyes somehow managed to narrow more without closing, and he pushed himself off of her, dusting down his front as though she'd leave a stain.

 _What. Ever._

She'd just managed to pull her upper half up, when another mountain fell on her. Except this mountain was bigger, slimier, and smelt worse.

It was a dead Orc.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my _god! GET IT OFF ME!"_ she screamed hysterically.

Thorin and Dwalin pushed the Orc off of her, whilst Dori pulled her out from beneath it. Once free, she scrambled madly away from it.

And then something else fell on her.

Thankfully, this time it was her blonde whirlwind of a best friend, who fell into her, wrapping her arms around her as she sobbed.

"Ok, the next person, thing, or creature that falls on me is getting a kick in the nuts." She murmured, though her threat lacked any real venom, as she was too busy burying her face into Dodge's shoulder as she did her level best to squeeze the life out of her.

"Ollie what's going on?" sniffled Dodge, her breath hitching in her throat as she attempted to talk.

"I woke up and you weren't there! And some guy who said he was Radagast the Brown brought me down here and told me to hide with our packs and this is madness and I want to go _home_!" she wailed, shoulders shaking as she clutched to Ollie for dear life, sobs wracking her body.

"It's ok, it's ok, shh, we're gonna be ok." Ollie murmured soothingly into her hair, rocking her back and forth as shivers of her own raked across her skin.

She was _very_ aware that the other 15 occupants of the cave were staring at them, and swung her gaze around, trying to keep them all in sight.

She met Thorin's gaze with a clash that she felt right down to her toes; he was wearing that strange expression again, though this time she could see discomfort on his face as he watched the two distressed women on the floor before him.

She watched as he turned away to inspect the dead Orc that had fallen down the hidden entrance, pulling an arrow shaft from its back, sneering as he threw it away.

"Elves." he stated, distaste clear in his every pore.

"I cannot see where the pathway leads!" called Dwalin, the suddenness of his shout in the quiet cave caused both girls to flinch, "Do we follow it or no?"

"Follow it, or course!" replied Bofur. The other dwarves began to follow, but stopped when they realised that they had two new charges. Two _young lady_ charges, who hadn't moved.

"I think that would be wise." agreed Gandalf.

But when he bent down to usher the two girls into movement, he found himself being held back by the wrong end of a knife.

While the dwarves were distracted, Ollie had rifled through her bag and pulled out her Rangerwood 55 swiss army knife, pulling out the longest, sharpest blade it had.

Feeling a lot better with a weapon in her hand, however naive that thought may be, she'd pushed Dodge behind her again. Dodge didn't complain at all, seeing as Ollie was the one with a knife, and had squeezed herself between the rocky wall and Ollie's back. They still held onto one another, with Ollie's free arm clasped around Dodge's leg, and both of Dodge's hands gripping onto Ollie's shoulders.

"My dear, there is no need for that." He said, mildly surprised.

Ollie simply stared at him, before flicking her gaze around the cave.

"I'll lower mine if they lower theirs." she stated, indicating the Dwarves who fairly _bristled_ with weaponry, a lot of it still in hand. Gandalf's eyebrows inched their way up his forehead as he realised that the dwarves were indeed still holding their weapons up, but were not, in fact, behaving in a threatening manner towards the two girls.

"They need theirs in case anything else appears on this path. They mean you no harm."

"Yeah, well, could they let their faces know? Cause' I'm not really feeling the friendly vibes right now." Murmured Dodge from behind her shoulders. Ollie let out a half hearted laugh in agreement, and though her hand shook, she didn't lower her knife.

"Let's just say that I need mine then." she dead-panned.

Before she knew what was happening, her hand had gone numb and was, quite suddenly, empty.

"I'll not have a stranger threatening my company, even if it is with so small a weapon. Now you either come with us, or get left behind, enough time's been wasted." said Thorin. And in comparison to the other times he'd spoken, this was almost gentle.

Almost.

He strode off without a backwards glance as he pocketed the knife, and the rest of the company filed along behind him. Soon, only Ollie, Dodge, Gandalf, and Bilbo were in the cave.

"Come along dear girls, they're harmless really. And they'll look after you as long as you're with them." said Gandalf, a twinkle in his eye as he looked over the two girls. Ollie paused for a breath.

Her feet were killing her. She felt light headed from the running, and because she'd not eaten all day. Her hip, legs, and ribs hurt from when she'd fallen; both over the hill and into the cave. She was shaky, tired, and frightened. She turned to Dodge.

"Tolkein." she stated.

"I know." she replied, brown eyes wide with fear.

"Well?"

"...I always liked that story."

After sharing another look, with watery, wobbly smiles, they helped each other up. They both groaned from their aches and pains, before shouldering their backpacks and following Gandalf down the path.

* * *

The path was not, in any way, fun.

Oh, it certainly beat running for you life, but it wasn't a particularly _nice_ walk.

Dodge's socks had disappeared at some point, and Ollie's socks were so torn up that they didn't count as being protective at all. The pathway was covered in small stones, some of which were sharp, causing them to flinch and hiss with every step. Cold air drifted down the narrow corridor of stone, which rose up so high they couldn't see the difference between white sky and grey rock. They pulled their jackets tighter around them, but they still shivered from the cold. The slight breeze drifted through their hair, which allowed it to finally start drying, though when Thorin called for a break, both girls hair was still very damp.

They'd come to a stop on a wider area of the path, which allowed them to sit in a loose circle. Dwalin had barged past the girls to sit at the other end of the path to watch for any orcs, which shoved the girls further into the group of strangers. They sat down and immediately huddled closer together, Gandalf on one side and Balin, next to his brother, on the other. They removed their packs and set them down, their feet covered by the silky fabric. It was a flimsy barrier against such a group, but the position provided a sense of security none the less.

Ollie's eyes twitched in rhythm with Dodge's as they looked about the small camp, wanting to keep an eye on every little movement. No matter how sheltered their lives may be in comparison to the lives in Middle Earth, no woman, no matter her history, felt completely safe and at ease in a group of strange men.

Dodge felt like the elephant in the room; everyone knew she, and Ollie, were there...but no one seemed willing to acknowledge their presence. Oh, the dwarves were watching, of course, but not talking.

Dodge watched with heavy eyes as the dwarves went about what appeared to be a normal routine, but all she wanted was to be warm, clean, and at home.

Starting the fire was a long, slow, and quiet affair. The dwarves mostly looked at their two tag-alongs, and they in-turn mostly looked at the floor, arms wrapped around each other. They shivered sporadically, from the cold and from shock, and Ollie felt a strange sort of sadness settle over her as she listened to Oin and Gloin struggle and argue as they tried to light the fire.

She heaved out a long sigh, before unwrapping herself from Dodge and leaning forward to rummage through her pack, pulling out the matches. Grunting, she pulled herself to her feet with difficulty, wincing as she put her weight on the torn soles.

She'd noticed the way the dwarves stiffened slightly at her movement, all watching her from the corner of their eyes as she hobbled her way over to the arguing brothers.

Gingerly, she lowered herself to the dusty floor, mindful of her feet as she tucked her knees beneath her with another sigh. Placing herself here made her feel very exposed, as she was now right in the centre of the circle, not that they hadn't been staring at her anyway.

Matchbox in hand, she reached over to Gloin, holding it out.

"Here." she said quietly.

His bushy red eyebrows lowered in confusion as he stared at the proffered box.

"What?" he snapped in a deep accent.

She sighed again, too tired to explain. She leant forward to see how they'd built the fire before tapping three matches into her palm, and striking them against the box. The dwarves eyes widened when they saw the fire flare from the tips of the matches, and she carefully tilted the sticks upside-down, allowing the flame to spread further up the wood before placing them into the soft kindling in the centre of the fire wood. The flames soon spread and grew, and Oin placed a few larger pieces of wood to encourage the growth, and they quickly had a nice fire going.

Holding the box out to Gloin again, she shook it lightly, causing the match-sticks inside to rustle together.

"Here, keep them." she repeated quietly, not looking at him. When she felt the box lifted from her fingers, she turned away, grimacing as she struggled to her feet.

"Hold on a second lass. Let me have a look at you." Said Oin.

"It's ok..." She started.

"I said sit down." he repeated firmly.

She sat, wide eyed.

"Okay..." she said, "But, um, look at Dodge first, she's worse off."

"I'll be the judge of that." he stated, as he went to fetch his medicinal bag, "But get her to come over as well."

Ollie turned to Dodge, who'd been oddly quiet for the whole walk, apart from the few muttered curse words whenever her foot caught on a particularly sharp stone.

"Dodge." she said, "Dodge, come 'ere."

She didn't even stir. Ollie pressed her tongue against her cheek in thought, then stretched her legs out in-front of her with a small smile; when being nice didn't work...

"Dodge," she said, then started whistling and slapping gently at her thighs, "C'mere Dodge! Who's a good girl? Here Dodge, Dodge, Dodge!" she called condescendingly.

Dodge turned her head slowly, blinked once, then said;

"Bitch."

The dwarves shifted uncomfortably, but Ollie grinned.

"Slut."

"Slag."

"Whore."

"Cow."

"Pig."

"Witch."

At this point both girls were grinning at each other, and the dwarves looked thoroughly scandalised. Ollie took a deep breath...

"I don't like Jareths' tights."

All of the dwarves whipped their heads round at the sound that came from Dodges mouth just then.

"You take that back!"

" _Make_ me." she dared.

Now, it would have been fantastic to say that Dodge bounded to her feet in glorious indignation at hearing David Bowie so insulted, that she threw herself over to demand an apology from her best friend; who she knew didn't mean a word of her insult, and emerged the fantastical victor complete with bum shaking victory dance.

However, that was _not_ what happened.

In much the same way as poor Ollie, Dodge scrambled to her feet in pained groans and gasps, then limped her way over and planted herself in Ollie's lap, despite her protests, and started flicking her in the forehead.

"Ow!"

"Take it back!"

"Never!"

"Say you love it!"

"No!"

"Say you love the overly revealing tightness! Say it!"

Ollie exploded into fits of laughter.

"Fine! Fine! I give in! I love the ridiculously tight tights!"

"Damn right you do." Dodge sassed, then slid off of her lap to sit next to her, legs stretched out alongside Ollie's.

Some moments passed by in silence, as the girls stretched out, allowing their frozen skin to finally begin warming by the fire.

"Why is it you two swear more than a drunken miner?" Questioned Nori.

Dodges face twisted in confused thought as she shrugged.

"No idea really."

"But...I thought you were friends?" said Bilbo.

"We are." replied Ollie.

"Best friends." said Dodge.

"Practically sisters." finished Ollie.

"Then why on Middle Earth would you call each other such horrendous things?" gasped Kili.

"Love." said Ollie, picking at a small scab on her knee.

"Where we're from, they can be used as endearments as well as insults. Since you know you don't actually think they are what you say they are, it's like a joke." Explained Dodge. Fourteen confused faces looked back at them, only Gandalf seemed to understand what they were saying.

"Just assume when we're saying nasty things to each other, that they're said with love." said Ollie, smiling at Dodge. That smile quickly changed to a grimace when she saw Oin returning.

His face held grim determination, and the large bag swinging by his side seemed incredibly daunting. She gulped.

"I'm not going to enjoy this, am I?"

The supposedly deaf healer tilted his head to one side before lifting his shoulders in a shrug.

"Probably not."

* * *

"You should look at Dodge's head first though." Argued Ollie.

"Anything to get out of a trip to the doctor. I'm fine; Radagast fed me some weird drink, no concussion, no cut, nada. Well," she mused, "My feet are still killing me, but everything else is fine."

"Right you are then Lady Dodge. Lady Ollie, let us have a look at your head then."

As Oin went about the general tests for concussion, the two girls giggled at his use of a title.

"We're not ladies, just Dodge and Ollie is fine." said Ollie as Oin poked and prodded at her.

"I've been meaning to ask about that; you said it was a long story." Questioned Fili from where he perched next to his brother, arms crossed in his lap and elbows propped up on his raised knees.

"Well, My real name is Cassandra Twist."

"And mine's Bridget Daize."

"But everyone calls us Ollie and Dodge, have done for years."

"Yes but _why?_ " asked Ori.

Ollie opened her mouth to answer, but the air suddenly left her lungs in a rush of pain as Oin began poking at her ribs.

" _Son of a..._ " she hissed, barely managing to hold in the curse word.

"I take it that hurt?" murmered Oin.

"Oh, you know, only a little." she said, voice heavy with sarcasm.

"Hmm well, they're not broken, probably just bruised, I'll have to raise your shirt a little to be sure..."

" _No._ "

"Lass..."

"I said, _no._ If it matters that much, Dodge'll look later for you and let you know." Ollie growled. _Hey,_ she thought, _I'm starting to sound like the dwarves._

"If my healer says you need to be looked at, you'll be looked at." Rumbled Thorins voice from across the fire. Ollie jumped; he'd been so quiet and still, she'd forgotten he was there.

"It's ok mister Oin, I'm used to checking her for bruises and...stuff. I know what to look out for." muttered Dodge. Oin sighed, but left her ribs alone, now moving down to the dreaded feet.

"Why don't you tell us why you're called that while Oin looks at your feet? A good story will take your mind off it." said Fili, throwing a flirtatious smile Ollie's way.

"Ok, but it's not that interesting."

* * *

It was the year five production of "Oliver Twist", a story where we're from about a little orphaned boy, who's sold to some cruel people before running away to live in a city. He was very gentle hearted, and wouldn't have survived on his own if he hadn't made a friend, a boy by the moniker "The artful Dodger", a pick-pocket. So, the Dodger took Oliver to his pick-pocketing hideout - a group of boys under the protection of a mister Fagin. Unfortunately, Oliver was caught on his first day, as he was too honest to be any good at pick-pocketing. In the time this was written, there were only two results of being caught as a child pick-pocketing; the workhouse, or a hanging. But the man he'd stolen from was elderly and kind, and so allowed Oliver to go free on one condition; he would live with the man as his own son.

Fagin and one of his conspirators later kidnapped the boy, thinking they could hold Oliver for ransom. Unfortunately, it turned out Oliver Twist was actually the old man's long lost grandson; his daughter had been caught in a storm and given birth at a workhouse, dying in labour. The owners assumed she was a runaway or a whore, and took her pretty necklace as payment, kept the child, gave him an orphans name, and thought no more of it.

When Oliver was kidnapped, the old man called the owner of the workhouse, who admitted to the situation of his birth, and showed the old man the necklace, a necklace he'd given his daughter as a gift before she went missing. When he realised that Oliver was his grandson, he sent the police all over the city to find him.

When they were finally reunited, Oliver and The Dodger parted ways; despite being best friends, they were from very different worlds.

Anyway, the two boys who got the part in the play as Oliver and The Dodger were horrible, always throwing things at us and pulling our hair. And on the day of the play, they pretended to be sick halfway through, which would have ruined the whole thing.

Luckily, Dodge and I knew every line, as we loved the play, and we volunteered to play Oliver and Dodger. Since they had no other choice, they let us go on after a short break, which began with a fun song. Which, if I do say so myself, we performed perfectly.

The two boys were really jealous, and so after the play began calling us nasty names. Saying we wanted to be boys and started calling us "Oliver" and "Dodger" all the time.

At first we hated it, and soon everyone started calling us names too. Until one day, Dodge had enough and took a swing at the boy who started it, giving him a massive black eye. He was too scared of her to tell, but I felt guilty and convinced Dodge to fess up. The teachers started laughing, saying we really were like a real-life Oliver and Dodger, and took to calling me "Ollie" as in "Ollie" Twist, and Bridget "Dodge" for almost dodging her way out of it.

* * *

"...and, of course, for being my best friend." Ollie smiled over at Dodge, despite the stinging in her feet from Oins ministrations.

"Yeah, after that, we didn't mind so much. Not even our families call us by our real names any more." Laughed Dodge, nodding her head in agreement.

"Sounds ridiculous to me," sniffed Dwalin, who they hadn't realised was listening, "What's wrong with your actual names? I think Bridget sounds nice."

The girls weren't the only ones to turn and stare at the dwarf with wide eyes, though Dodge was the only one who started blushing.

"Haven't you ever heard of a nick-name?" hissed Ollie, as her foot received yet another painful jab from the healer.

"What's a nick-name?" called Bofur.

"When someone gives you a name based on your personality, or on something you've done in the past, or on your appearance." answered Dodge, as Ollie looked somewhat preoccupied with _not_ using every curse word she knew on the dwarf pulling and pushing at her feet.

"So, we're Ollie and Dodge, because of the stint with the play."

"So like uncle's know as Oakenshield, after he defeated Azog!" cried Kili.

Ollie looked over at the dwarf in question, who fidgeted slightly at the mention of his own "Nick-name".

"There now," huffed Oin, "I think that's you all done lass. Pop your boots back on."

"Don't have any." murmured Ollie from Dodge's lap. She'd flopped over as soon as he'd dropped her second foot, and was now looking far too pale.

Dodge began to panic quietly, Ollie had gone pale, her breathing was slowing _way_ down...her lips were turning _blue!_

 _Shit, need to hide this from Oin...fuck what am I supposed to do?_

"No boots?" several dwarves started muttering in shock, with a few queries as to if they, like hobbits, didn't wear them at all. Dodge drowned them all out, wiggling her fingers in front of Ollie's face, growing increasingly alarmed as her eyes only flickered slowly from side to side rather than focusing on them.

"Ollie? Have you taken your tablets yet?" she whispered.

"Not eaten...not had anything yet." the purple headed girl slurred, eyes droopy. Dodge studied her closely, one of her pupils was getting much bigger than the other, and her right hand twitched and clenched convulsively.

"Gandalf, chuck me the green bag please!" She yelled out, startling the company, who'd become very involved in a discussion of the pros and cons of shoes.

"This one, my dear?" said the wizard, holding her bag up.

"Yes, yes, quickly."

Gandalf passed the bag to Bilbo, waving his hand towards the girls, and the hobbit scrambled hastily towards them. All the dwarves were now silent, focused solely on the panicking blonde girl, and her dark-haired companion, who was making strange moaning sounds under her breath, shaking her head from side to side.

Dodge snatched the bag from Bilbo, with a barely muttered "thanks", and began tearing through it, throwing several items to either side in the search for something Ollie could eat.

Pulling out a nature valley bar, she tore it open and pushed it into Ollies' non-shaking hand.

"Ollie? Ollie you need to eat this now." she said. Ollie merely flicked her eyes to stare, unfocused, at her friend.

"Eat it now Ollie." Dodge demanded.

Slowly, Ollie began munching her way through the bar, when she finished the first, Dodge shoved the second into her hand, and watched like a hawk until that was gone too.

"Does anyone have any water please?"

Dwalin threw his gently to her before anyone else could reach for theirs', and Dodge nodded her appreciation. Back into the bag she went, digging through to find Ollie's supply of the little white and blue tablets that she needed. Popping them out, she encouraged her friend to sit up, putting the tablets into her hand and persuading her to swallow them down with some water.

Already, the small amount of food had made an improvement; Ollie no longer looked so muggy, simply tired, and the colour had returned to her cheeks. She leant her head against Dodges shoulder, while she wrapped her arm around her.

Within a few moments, Ollie was sound asleep.

* * *

"Would you care to explain that?" growled Thorin.

Dodge merely raised an eyebrow at the dwarven king, and decided a lie would be better. It'd bite her in the arse later, but oh well.

"We were up drinking late last night, and then , you know, suddenly we had to run an awful lot, with no shoes, which yes, we do usually wear, and hadn't actually had a chance to eat or drink since, like, last night? We're both _exhausted_. The only reason I'm not zonked right now is that thing Radagast gave me made me feel better. But yeah, thanks for your concern." she finished off by glaring at Thorin, who held her gaze evenly.

"I would suggest you have something to eat too then, and a sip of Dwalins water wouldn't do you any harm either, while I fix up your feet." said Oin, and Dodge broke the staring contest to look down in shock as Oin busied himself getting ready to treat her; she was sure that dwarf was supposed to be damn near deaf.

"Aren't you supposed to be almost deaf?" she asked.

"What was that dear?"

"Oh, never mind." Sighing, she took a quick sip of Dwalin's water, though she could happily stick her whole head in a river at the moment, then threw it back to him. He caught it easily, though his gaze stayed on her a moment, whilst she dug through her pack for another nature valley bar to take the edge off of her stomach pains.

She swore, at that moment, that when they get to Rivendell she'd eat anything and everything put in front of her face.

"Let her rest while she can, once your feet are treated, we move on." said Thorin, who then turned to keep watching the passage ahead, stopping any argument that Dodge could've tried.

Really, Ollie needed at least three or four hours rest; a whole afternoon would be better. But Dodge simply sighed and nodded, she really couldn't be arsed right now; she just wanted to go _home_.

* * *

It had been a bit of a struggle to wake Ollie back up, and she looked thoroughly miserable when she was told they had to get moving again, but wobbled to her feet all the same.

"Jesus fucking christ and all the donkey nuts in Jeruselem!" she yelped when she stood on her feet, wiggling them back and forth in a vain, pointless effort to releave the stinging.

"Shit shit shit shit shit..." was Dodges personal mantra as she stood there, her own feet in similar agony; she'd never been as creative as Ollie when it came to swearing.

The dwarves, shaking their heads at their bad mouthing, just watched them as they held onto each other, before walking down the narrow, cold corridor once again.

They hadn't been walking long, and Ollie already missed the warmth of the fire. Her legs were almost numb with cold, and she was sure Dodge felt the same. They shivered, teeth chattering, whilst clinging to each other in hopes of relieving the pain in their feet and sharing body heat.

Of course, it didn't work.

The setting was particularly depressing, just endless walls of grey rock blending into grey sky, and the loud footfalls of thirteen dwarves in front and behind.

When the corridor become too narrow, they'd pause a few moments whilst Bombur was pushed and pulled, and when one wall fell away, the girls gasped at the sheer, sharp drop down the mountain side.

It had begun growing too dark to see when Thorin finally announced that they'd stop just ahead. He'd spotted another wider area much like the first, except this one was even larger, and only had the back wall of mountain rock.

Ollie swallowed hard; it'd be so easy to just roll over in your sleep and...

The dwarves bundled about in what appeared to be their usual manner, sitting in an almost circle, clumped together in the same grouping as the last time.

Dodge and Ollie found themselves pushed back into a small, rounded dent in the wall, which provided a little more protection from the cold breeze. They slumped to the floor, and leant on each other.

"Do my legs look like they're turning blue?" wondered Ollie aloud, "I think they're turning blue."

She was so busy turning her legs this way and that, studying them for any changes in shade, that it was only Dodge who noticed the way several of the dwarves had also turned to stare at her legs.

Thorin was one of the dwarves, and if looks could actually cause heat, then Ollie's legs would've been just fine. He sighed something under his breath before removing his thick over coat and laying it across the two girls legs.

The two looked up in shock, mouths open and eyebrows in their hairlines.

 _Movie Thorin didn't seem the sort to do this..._

"Umm, thanks? But really, we'll be all right..."

"It was for our sakes as well as your own. Young ladies can't go around with their legs bare like that, it is unseemly." he growled, keeping his back to them as he marched back to his place in the group.

"He's right," sniffed Dori, elbowing Nori in the ribs when he noticed his brothers pout at the girls bare legs having been covered, "Scandalous, to go around like that."

"Hey!" cried Dodge, "Where we're from, this is perfectly acceptable clothing!"

"Yeah!" added Ollie, "We were dressed for a hot summer!"

The only response was a lot of grumbling and sniffing from the dwarves, who clearly didn't believe a word they said, and so the girls snuggled down beneath Thorins' coat, secretly glad for the warmth that had passed from Thorins' body into the material.

The fire was started and built up for warmth, Bombur looking right at home in front of the fire. Whilst everyone sat in silence. Dodge was slowly nodding off, big brown eyes growing droopy and heavy, and Ollie people watched in twitchy agitation.

Bombur passed out chunks of bread and cheese, Ori scratched away at some parchment, Bofur and Bifur muttered lowly in some strange language.

The wind whistled, some birds tweeted. It was almost silent, still, peaceful.

Ollie hated it.

Silences were there to be filled; with music, with chatter, even with just the occassional rustle of a turning page. But this silence was driving her mad, not least because it was an awkward silence.

She turned to Dodge, intending to speak, but found her mouth simply dropped open.

"What?" Dodge said cautiously, eyes dragging themselves open again.

"Please tell me my hair doesn't look as bad as yours!" It was true, Dodge's hair was a state. Despite being fine and straight, all the running and falling they'd been doing had warped it into a frizzy, tangled mess. And it was still damp.

"Hey!" she cried. "You're no picture you know!"

Grimacing, Ollie reached a hand up to tentatively pat at her hair. Being much thicker than her friends, her hair was also still damp. But much, much more tangled, she could just tell. She sighed.

"I'll brush yours if you brush mine?"

Dodge pursed her lips.

"Fine, but french braid it too."

They each dug through their packs again, pulling out their hair brushes and bands.

"You are _not_ about to do your hair in public, are you?" screeched Dori.

"Yes..." said Ollie, "What's wrong with that?"

"It's...it's..."

"It's not really a done thing in dwarven culture, miss Ollie." said Gandalf, smiling.

"Oh." she nodded, "Well sorry, but we're not dwarves, and our hair is getting on our nerves, won't take long."

Dodge 'scootched' over to sit in-front of Ollie, and so began the gentle tug and pull of brush through hair.

At first all the dwarves watched, the younger ones with wide eyes, as Ollie pulled the brush through Dodges hair, revealing a rather pleasant river of soft blonde locks that ran down to the middle of her back. Her hair was sleek and shiny, reflecting the orange glow of the flames.

As she brushed, Ollie began to think.

 _OK, so we're in Middle Earth. No big deal. Totally fine. See? I'm just brushing my friends hair...IN MIDDLE EARTH! No. No shouting, I'm fine. Ok, Ollie, get a game plan._

 _1) Make it to Rivendell_

 _No wait..._

 _1) Acquire some form of foot wear_

 _2) Make it to Rivendell_

 _3) THEN have small mental break down...keep it small_

 _4) Go home_

 _Ok so...how long to Rivendell? Umm the in the movie's it was like BAM! THERE IT IS! But the book said it was like, what? Two weeks? I really hope not, as clearly it's not the BAM option..._

Despite the inner turmoil, Ollie's face remained calm, almost serene as she glided the brush through her friends hair. Thorin fidgeted at the sight, to brush another's hair was a deeply personal act, and her she was doing it in _public_! In front of younger dwarves too. He'd already spied Ori watching from the corner of his eye as he half heartedly scribbled into his parchment, and his nephews were also watching. This was not acceptable.

"Didn't you mention you sang at that play? Sing the song for us."

Ollie's brushing paused and the deep rumble of Thorins voice, and Dodge twisted her neck around to look at her friend, and the two quickly began laughing.

"I don't really think "Consider yourself" is an appropriate song for tonight, maybe some other time." Dodge said.

"What would you like to sing?" asked Ori in a small voice, and Ollie sent the gingery dwarf a small smile, noting that his cheeks seemed to grow darker, though that may have been a trick of the fire light.

Dodge screwed up her face in thought, she honestly had no idea. After all, not many songs she knew would be...suitable for the dwarves. She couldn't even imagine their response to a Nicki Minaj song. Which, once she thought it, was all that she could think about.

Ollie however, knew exactly.

Threading her fingers through her friends long hair, she cleared her throat dramatically, drawing the eyes of every dwarf, as well as the sullen Bilbo and still Gandalf. She sent them all a quick wink as she put the brush to one side,

"Hey Dodge?" she said innocently, as her fingers combed through the blondes' hair, parting it ready for the braiding.

"Hm?"

"You remind me of the babe." Immediately the two girls started giggling and snorting at the haughty way Ollie had made her statement, and Dodge flapped her hand at the confused dwarves.

"Ok, ok." she also cleared her throat, the wiggled her eyebrows at their audience;

"What babe?"

"The babe with the power!"

"What power?" Dodge gasped.

"The power of Voodoo!"

"Who do?"

"You do!"

"Do _what_?"

"Remind me of the babe!"

Dodge began clicking, clapping and tapping out a beat for Ollie to sing to; happily allowing her the lead for one of their favourite Labyrinth songs.

"I saw my baby, crying hard as babe could cry...

What could I do?

My baby's love had gone,

And left my baby _blue_!

Nobody knew!"

"What kind of Magic spell to use." They chorused, looking at each other with wide eyes and feigned shock.

"Slime and snails?" sang Dodge.

"Or puppy dog's tails?" replied Ollie.

"Thunder or lightening? Then baby said..."

"Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)

Dance magic, dance (dance magic, dance)

Put that baby spell on me, ooh

Jump magic, jump (jump magic, jump)

Jump magic, jump (jump magic, jump)

Put that magic jump on me

Slap that baby, make him free!" They sang together. After a pause, Ollie began again;

"I saw my baby, trying hard as babe could try...

What could I do?

My baby's fun had gone,

And left my baby _blue_!

Nobody knew!"

* * *

The song came to a close as Ollie looped the hair band into place, and she couldn't help but feel a little pleased at her choice.

It had been stuck inside her head since Dodge told her about the drunken film fest. Dodge had always had a thing for The Goblin King, and Ollie could only hope she'd find herself one.

And, you know, if she could point Ollie to her prince charming at the same time, that'd be great.

"All done! My turn please, do what you will."

As Dodge began dragging the brush through her hair, she found her eyes locked with Thorins, who she hadn't realised was sitting quite so close.

His face was the most relaxed she'd seen so far.

"That was...interesting lass." said Nori.

"Oh aye," drawled Gloin, "Do ye have a lot o' songs like that lass?"

"There's all sorts where we're from, that was just in my head." hummed Ollie, head tipped back and eyes closed as Dodge worked her magic.

"So, um, miss Ollie," stuttered Ori, "What is it, exactly, you and miss Dodge do?"

Ollie let out a long, low sigh, completely relaxed, despite being surrounded by males, which often made her jerky.

"Well...I work with animals. I'm training to become a Vet one day, someone who takes care of animals when they're sick? Any way, at the moment I just look after animals, I spend four days a week at a farm, and Saturdays at a Zoo."

"A Zoo?" he asked, ever curious for new information.

"Yeah, it's a place they keep lots of exotic animals from far away places, so people can go and look at them, since travelling to those countries is really expensive." she muttered, enjoying the feel of Dodge pulling her fingers through her now smooth hair.

"And I'm a hair dresser." said Dodge with a smile.

Everyone barring Gandalf looked her way with interest.

"What's that?" asked Bilbo, and Ollie couldn't help but notice that this was the first time he'd spoken that she could think of...

 _Hm, I'll have to talk to him more at Rivendell when he's more relaxed._

"I get paid to do peoples hair. Wash it, cut it, style it, put it up for a special occasion, dye it..."

"Dye it?" squawked Fili, "The way fabrics are dyed? Who'd want to dye their hair?"

Knowing this probably wouldn't go down well, Ollie waved her hand.

"She's dyed my hair plenty of times."

Amidst all the chatter and general shock that comment caused, Dodge leant down and told Ollie her hair was done, snuggling back into place beneath Thorins coat.

Ollie put her hand to the back of her head. It had been pulled back to the nape of her neck in a loose, wide bun. Running her hand across it, she recognised the tell tale bumps that indicated it had been braided as well, which she knew would give it an elegant appearance. Dodge had also left two pieces of hair the width of her finger free on each side of Ollies' face, framing the rounded face in a flattering way.

It was after her inspection that she realised all the company were now looking at her with expectant faces.

"Huh?"

"We asked why you'd do that to your hair!" called Balin, sounding very put-out.

"Oh...Well the first time was just to help Dodge practice for her class. Stupid mare left the dye on too long and turned my hair green! Any way, after a few goes at trial and error, she finally got it to the right colour and I decided I like it. So...yeah, I keep having it done..." She blinked at the sea of very hairy men before her, "Why are you all looking at me like I just killed your puppy?"

No one seemed able to find their voice.

"So...What's your real hair colour?" after the silence, Ollie couldn't help but flinch when Thorin spoke, especially as he was so damned close to her. I mean, really? Does that guy always have to sound like you're on the other side of the room?

"Dark Brown..."

"And you dyed it black?"

"No..." she frowned, utterly confused.

Thorin only looked pointedly at her hair, and she had to admit, with the current lighting, and with it having been damp all day...it would've looked black to them.

"It's...purple?" had she meant for that to sound like a question?

"Purple." he muttered under his breath, staring hard at her hair as if it would magically become a different colour. Then he heaved a great sigh, and shifted, causing small rocks and debris to crunch and crumble beneath him as he stood.

"Enough for tonight, get some rest, we continue at dawn." this he said to everyone, before moving further down the path to take watch at the edge.

Before anyone was able to argue against his statement, the wind that had been whistling lightly around their ears suddenly heightened to a roar, whirling through the camp.

The girls huddled closer together as a particularly strong gust travelled down the stony corridor, sending shards of ice down to their very bones.

They couldn't help the chattering of their teeth, and any merriment they'd managed during the hair discussion was quickly lost as they gasped at the cold.

Ollie turned to see Thorin eyeing her, hair blowing wildly in the strong breeze, face set into hard lines. He looked as though he'd been hewn from the very stone they were surrounded by.

 _No, that's not quite true...his eyes are like_ _sapphires_. _Prettier than mine anyway...mine are more grey than blue._

"Enough; sleep." he ordered, and turned away.

Ollie picked up his coat and flung it back over his shoulders, the snap of the leather getting his attention, as did the sudden weight and warmth of his coat settling upon his shoulders. He turned in shock, mouth open as if to protest, but quietly closed it when he saw the pair untying some rolled up fabric from their packs, which they each quickly clambered into.

They both sighed in relief as their body heat began filling up their soft, downy sleeping bags. Burying their faces into the fabric, they allowed the aches and pains of the day to fade as they finally allowed their taut muscles to relax, lulled to sleep by the soft hissing and popping of the fire.

Dodge's eyes felt as though bricks had been strapped to them, they were so heavy, and she felt her body becoming heavier and heavier as she began to fade deeper into the comfortable relaxation that occurred just before sleep.

Then the rustling started.

Unable to get comfortable, Ollie fidgeted back and forth in her own bag, grumbling under her breath. Dodge, through her sleepy haze, realised they shared the same predicament, and began to laugh softly under her breath. Seeing more than a few raised eyebrows, she mumbled;

"We may have shrunk, but our sleeping bags haven't!" and raised her feet to illustrate her point. Where they should have sat at the very end of the bag, they began rising about half way down, causing the end to flop down and flap about in the wind. As well as that, the bags were also slightly too wide, meaning they kept getting tangled up.

The dwarves snorted in amusement before turning away, and Ollie continued to grumble quietly to herself, before finally allowing sleep to pull her under.

* * *

So, has anyone been able to guess what's wrong with Ollie? Let me know in the reviews, and of course tell me what you all thought of chapter 2!

See you soon :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer** : Middle Earth and all its characters belong to Sir Tolkein (With the exception of some of Peter Jacksons additions) I do not own the universe or the story, but the Main OC and any future OCs are mine.

* * *

Just Beat it...

* * *

Ollie could not sleep.

She was warm for the first time all day, and considering the circumstances, comfortable. She couldn't have asked for a better view; the stars were bright and vibrant above her, no light pollution to ruin the sky.

But she still couldn't sleep.

She felt wired, alert, as though she'd chugged three mugs of extra sugary coffee. Ok, maybe not that bad, she was aware she needed to sleep, she just...couldn't.

 _Stupid episode earlier. Coulda slept ages, now I can't sleep at all..._ she thought groggily to herself, before giving up completely and sitting upright, stretching her back until she heard it clicking and popping.

Casting a blurred eye about the camp, she first assured herself that Dodge was still with her, pleased to see the feisty blonde curled up comfortably beside her. Arse pointed in the air, as usual.

The fire was burning low, emitting a deep, dark orange instead of the bright yellow you usually see at home-made bonfires.

The sight made her huff a small laugh, remembering something she'd been told on a trip she'd taken to Africa, on a night they'd camped out to see what animals passed by.

 _Big, tall, bright fires; that's a white man's fire. You can't see anything, the light blinds you if you look there too long, and all the animals can see you before you see them. And the bugs, oooh, bugs get everywhere when there's a big fire. We need to keep a low, red fire, close to the floor. enough so we can just about see each other, then our eye's will adjust..._

That was the type of fire the Dwarves were keeping, a nice, low fire. Giving her eyes a moment to adjust, she looked around at those closest to her. Bilbo and Gandalf were directly beside Dodge, and from there it seemed everyone grouped in a family order.

Dwalin slept with his back leant against the stone, legs stretched out in front of him, with a hellish looking axe beside him.

 _I doubt I coulda lifted that thing even if I was at my full height!_

Beside him and to a slight angle lay Balin, feet pointed to the open floor of the cliffs edge, white hair wavering about in the wind. Oin was at his side, the ever present hearing trumpet wrapped beneath his arm like a teddy-bear, whilst his bag of remedies helped block some of the wind, stopping his mad grey hair from waving about too much.

His brothers wild red hair was all she could see from where she sat, but Ollie felt secure in the knowledge that that pair of brothers were doing fine.

To the side of Gloin was Bombur, occupying quite the bit of space, he was settled directly across from the fire, and so was the easiest to see, with the deep red of the low fire reflecting off of his rope like braid. Of course, his size had _nothing_ to do with the ease at which she could see him.

Bofur lay next to him, or more accurately, on him. She could see his cheeky little hat up against Bomburs chest, and could follow that down to wear the equally cheeky Dwarf had decided to lean up against his brother, feet extended out where they came perilously close to kicking his cousin, Bifur, in the face.

Dori lay next to him, on his back, ramrod straight. Except for one hand which reached across to settle on the shoulder of his youngest brother, Ori. Ori was sandwiched between Dori and Nori, looking rather squashed too, as Nori, true to his hair, seemed to spread out in a star shape as he slept on his front, arms and legs everywhere.

Fili and Kili lay leant against one another, looking terribly adorable as they slept. Ollie held her hand against her face to keep from squealing out loud at how cute the pair looked, all sleepy and squished.

She made no promises to hold in her squeal when Kili met Tauriel, though.

 _Wait, will he meet Tauriel? Does Tauriel even exist? I hope so, I'm a sap for cute doomed romances,_ she thought.

Squinting her now adjusted eyes, she sighed; all Dwarves, Wizards, Humans, and Hobbits present and accounted for.

All except...

Her eyes abruptly widened when she realised she couldn't see Thorin, and she leant forward and back in her bag in an attempt to see where he'd gotten to.

Her momentary panic soon abided, though, when she realised he was actually seated within arms reach of her, just slightly above her head. He was sitting so still, like a gargoyle on a palace, simply watching the passage ahead.

Rubbing her eyes, Ollie decided to go sit with him. After all, he was the only other person awake.

Pulling her sleeping bag up by the armful, she held the access material bunched up beneath her armpits as she shuffled quickly towards Thorin, swearing softly beneath her breath at the scratching noise the bag made with each shuffling step she took.

When at last she reached Thorins perch, she carefully, though clumsily, lowered herself down beside him. Exhaling with a cheerful huff, she turned to him.

 _Whoa mama_... In the moonlight he appeared even more regal than before, his inky hair reflecting its shine, the few grey strands seeming to glow. His blue eyes seemed to pop from the darkness, beneath brows lowered in confusion as they stared at Ollie, one hand raised as if to grab her should she fall. Even as she noticed this small act of gallantry, the hand fell back to side, and he turned away to look over the company once again.

"Y'right?" She asked softly, aware of the sleeping group below. In all honesty, she doubted she'd be heard of the chorus of heavy snoring, but she didn't want to be the one who woke everyone up.

"Excuse me?" Thorin rumbled back. Ollie smirked as the chill air ruffled through the small stands of hair that were loose from her bun, making a valiant effort not to start laughing again at Thorins tone. Even when trying to be soft and quiet, he could still scare the knickers off a grizzly bear.

"Are you alright?" She repeated, pausing slightly between each syllable to emphasise them. Her cheeky smile fell when he didn't turn to look her way again, instead directing his short answer towards the ravine below.

"I am well."

Sighing, Ollie decided to just enjoy the view herself, looking from the company as they lay, bathed in the warm orange glow of the fire, to the sky with so many stars.

The pair sat in silence for a few moments, and though it was comfortable, Ollie couldn't help but break it.

"There are so many stars here." she whispered, more to herself than anyone, as she tried in vain to find any of the few constellations she was familiar with.

"You sound surprised." Thorins soft voice didn't make her jump, instead she swung her head lazily to smile in his direction, happy to see he was actually looking at her this time.

"Where I'm from, there are so many cities with so many lights, you can barely see the stars any more. Just a few small, bright pin pricks in the sky that are still stubborn enough to show themselves." She had to remind herself that he wasn't being mean or nasty, his face was just stony. She huffed a small laugh as she turned away, Thorin was resting bitch face personified.

"What about constellations?" He asked gently.

"Hmm," she said, nodding, "There are quite a few of those, like,we base our birthdays on them sometimes, but I can't find any here. Maybe there are too many for me to see past..." she trailed off, frowning gently as she stared at the sky.

She heard him shift slightly, the sound of leather and cloth rubbing against gravel coming from her left, but she sat still and continued to search the sky, allowing Thorin to move and fidget as he pleased without having her stare at his every movement.

She flinched slightly when she felt him lean against her arm, her head snapping round as her hand closed into a fist over a rock, ready to defend herself...

But Thorin didn't even turn his head her way, simply placed it beside hers as he looked at the sky, using his left arm to point towards a cluster of stars.

She watched as his finger traced a path through the sky, following the curve of seven bright stars, as his voice murmured gently into her ear.

"When Durin the Deathless awoke, he looked upon his reflection in the Mirrormere. There, above his brow, shone the seven stars as a crown. Turning to the caves surrounding its waters, he built Moria, the greatest of Dwarven kingdoms." She shivered slightly, both at the feeling of his warm breath stirring the hair curled about her ears, and at the reverence at which he told his story, her eyes riveted on the shining stars.

"Durin was the first of the Dwarven kings, and I am his heir. I suppose you could say that those were the stars I was born under." He lowered his hand, but did not move away.

Chewing lightly on her lip, Ollie decided to place the large rock down, instead picking up a handful of smaller stones.

Thorin watched, head tilted, as she arranged nineteen stones into a pattern, then drew lines in the dust to join them up. His eyes narrowed as he studied them, before a gust of strong wind blew down the tunnel, throwing his hair about wildly, into his eyes and Ollies. She clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter as he brushed the unruly mass back into place. His eyes narrowed, before she pointed back down to the stones she'd arranged.

"Chiron was a centaur, half man, half horse. The centaurs were known for their wildness, their inability to be still, always looking for adventure. They were great warriors, and Chiron was the greatest. Unlike many of his kin, he was calm, gentle, and kind. And incredibly smart. He was skilled with any weapon, and instrument, and would often train the worlds greatest heroes. For his skills, the gods 'blessed' him with immortality." Here she paused to pull a face, conveying just how she felt about the "gift" he'd been given, "One hero was called Hercules, and he was the greatest hero to ever live, and was Chirons close friend. However, he could be cruel, especially when drunk. One night, he drank all the wine the Centaurs kept, and he was so strong they could not fight him off, when Chiron tried to intervene, Hercules shot him in the flank with a poisoned arrow. When Hercules came to, three days later, he found Chiron in too much pain to live, but unable to die. Chiron begged Hercules to let him take the place of Prometheus, a lesser god who'd suffered torture for centuries after stealing fire from the gods to give it to man. Jupiter, the jailer, had arranged with Hercules to free Prometheus if a suitable immortal could be found to replace him. But when Jupiter received Chiron, he instead threw Chiron into the sky, where he was made into stars, and allowed to die in peace." Next to the image of the constellation, Ollie ran her fingers through the dust one last time, drawing an arrow with a line through it, the symbol of Sagittarius.

"The stars became known as Sagittarius, and those born under them are said to be fiery in temperament, passionate about life, always questing for knowledge, a little too blunt, and hide their emotions." She looked up at him from beneath her lashes, "Just a warning, I'm pretty much all of those things."

Thorin huffed a small laugh through his nose, before his eyes turned serious again.

"You should be asleep." He said, searching her face. She kinds wished he wouldn't, she had no doubt that she looked like absolute shit.

"Can't sleep." She sighed.

"You seemed tired enough earlier." He stated neutrally.

 _Oh boy_.

"Yeah, probably an adrenaline crash or something. Sucks, 'cause now I can't get to sleep at all. Where we going anyway?" She questioned him quickly, noticing the way his fists curled, and she reached back to grasp the orange sized rock again.

"I am not sure, we are currently following the Wizard." he stated roughly, attempting to stare into her eyes. Ollie dropped them to her lap quickly, not liking the direct, hard eye contact he was trying to make. She could feel her heart start to pump faster, her muscles tensing, when before she'd been relaxed. She'd actually been enjoying his company.

"Where did you and your friend come from? Why are you here?" he demanded roughly, though still making an effort to keep his voice low.

Ollie was now able to see her palm as it lay face up in her lap, the dark sky lightening and giving everything around them a light grey-pink hue.

"We don't know. We were just at home, and then we were...lost." she could feel his hard stare like a drill boring into her skull, but still she refused to look up, right hand tightening further around her make-shift weapon as her left thumb rubbed against the fingers of her left hand, smudging the grey dust that had gathered there.

The loud groaning of several members waking up snapped whatever tension was between them, and she scrambled to her feet as the company began to ready themselves for the journey. She went to turn away, but paused when she heard Thorin murmur her name in the same gentle tone they'd previously been speaking in.

"You will not be requiring that stone." He stated, and Ollie merely huffed, and dropped it, then shuffled her way back to camp.

 _How'd he even know I had that?_

* * *

When Ollie had returned to her original placement beside Dodge, she'd barely had a moment to shift into place before Bifur shoved a bowl of what appeared to be porridge into her hands, placing another bowl on the floor besides Dodges head, and then wandering away.

Breakfast was a quick affair, everyone eager to fill their stomachs and then move along, hoping they weren't far from Gandalfs' mysterious destination.

Well, mysterious to some.

Ollie and Dodge exchanged a few glances as they hobbled along, eyes dancing with excitement at the prospect of reaching the legendary - in their case, literally - Rivendell.

Their excitement was quelled, somewhat, by their still tender, and still unshod, feet. Whereas before each step had felt as though an army of angry fire ants had gone to town on their soles, the pain shooting upwards towards their calves, now was the equally agonising numbness.

Whatever concoction Oin had smeared over their poor feet seemed to be working, even though they could tell that the numbness in their feet was comparable to stepping on sharp stones with bare feet, which was exactly what they were doing, it at least wasn't causing either of them to want to curl up and die as they'd previously been wont to do.

Dodge didn't miss the lingering eyes of a certain dwarf, and she purposely placed herself between Ollie and Thorins' line of sight, carefully not looking his way as she did so. Ollie had been through enough in her life, and the was no way her best friend would ever let some... _bully_ of a dwarf lord make her feel on edge.

The girls tilted their heads towards one another, sharing small, tired smiles, when Ollie's eyes dropped. She came to a complete standstill, which wasn't too bad really, as she had insisted, argued, cajoled, and sulked until she was able to walk at the back of the procession. Her grey-blue eyes were open comically wide, as was her mouth, as she stared in horror at Dodges shirt.

Dodges dark blonde eyebrows scrunched above her own whisky coloured eyes as she tilted her head in confusion.

"What?" she asked, shivering as yet another breeze drifted past, ruffling the few stands of hair that had escaped from her French braid. Her eyes widened further as Ollie stormed, well, shuffled, over to her, and delivered an open palmed smack to Dodges upper arm.

"Why have you stopped?" Thorin gravelly voice drifted to them from the front of the line, but they were too busy to turn around and answer. Bilbo and Gandlaf had front row seats, and Gandalf chuckled lightly to himself at the indignant expression on Dodges face in wake of the slap she'd received.

"I officially blame you!" Shouted Ollie, her anger more than a little tinged in amusement.

"What? Why?" shouted Dodge.

"Your bloody shirt!" Ollie responded, pointing to her friends chest, " 'I don't run, and if your ever see me running, you should run too, because something is probably chasing me'" she sing-songed, "Congratulations, you ran, I ran, everybody ran!"

"Don't you blame this on me Cassandra Twist! I didn't put a forest in your house!"

"Don't you full name me, Bridget Daize! And I certainly didn't put a god damn forest in my house!" She took a deep breath, then winced as it pulled at the injury to her ribs, "Besides, I'm not _blaming_ blaming you, I'm pointing out the...irony, or whatever, of the situation."

The stage was set, the battle field primed. The grey rock beneath their feet swirled as the gentle breeze lifted the dust away, creating miniature whirlwinds about their feet. The audience fidgeted with baited breath, a few birds could be heard calling to one another in harmony with the whistling of the wind down their corridor of stone.

Grey eyes clashed with brown.

Dodge felt her face go first. It began with a tingling around the cheeks, a wrinkling, tugging sensation around the mouth, a bubble in the chest, as her lips pulled away from her teeth in a wide smile, a giggle seeping through, exploding into gut wrenching laughter as she bent at the waist, desperately gasping for breath, tears streaming from her eyes. As she blinked them back, an effort in futility if ever there was one, she glimpsed Ollie's long, battered legs as she leant against the rocks, clutching at her injured ribs as she too laughed hard enough to make her sides hurt.

Amidst the dying chortles from their sudden expulsion of the previous days stresses, Ollie imagined she could actually hear Thorin and Dwalin grinding their teeth in frustration.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, and grimacing at the sharp, throbbing pain by her ribs, she could clearly see the irritation on both of their faces; Thorins hands were curled into tight fists at his sides, and Dwalin had his tree-trunk arms crossed over his barrel of a chest, the muscles in his fore-arms and upper arms flexing sporadically.

Both had matching scowls.

Dodge coughed and hiccuped as her laughter subsided, flinging out a hand to wave away the crowd of confused Dwarves, flicking her wrist to indicate they should keep moving as both girls finally came to their senses and began dragging their wobbly legs back into line.

The procession continued on its' not-so-merry way, with Dwarves flicking their eyes to glance sideways at their crazed companions, who even now were still letting a chuckle or two slip from their lips as they recalled the incident with the t-shirt.

But boredom soon found its way into Ollies mind, as it so often did. Glancing up, she noted that no one in the company was actually talking. At all.

Bored, bored, bored, bored, _bored_.

Rolling her eyes she began humming, feeling the way her throat vibrated, rolling her eyes around to take in their surroundings.

 _Yep,_ she thought, _still stony, still grey._

Her humming grew in volume, and she smirked, pulling her torn and dirt-stained denim jacket tighter across her, as she noticed a few Dwarves peek round at her in curiosity. She should've known that if one think would wipe the frowns of those faces, it'd be music.

When Dodge quietly began singing beside her, the pair shared a smile, the song growing in volume, and Ollie nearly laughed out-right. How perfect that a song containing varying jokes about being "macho" would be in her head.

Dodge began, Bilbo outright staring, whilst the dwarves simply tilted their heads to listen;

" They told him 'don't you ever come around here,

Don't wanna see your face you better disappear!

The fire's in their eye's

And their word's are really clear,

So beat it, just beat it.

You better run, you better do what you can

Don't wanna see no blood, don't be a macho man!

You wanna be tough, better do what you can

So beat it, but you wanna be bad..."

They dove into the chorus together, shuffling with wide smiles on their faces as the attempt to dance their way through the song despite their injuries, popping the collars of their jackets and wiggling their hips to the music only they could hear;

"Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it

No one wants to be defeated

Showin' how funky strong is your fight

It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

Just beat it, beat it

Just beat it, beat it

Just beat it, beat it

Just beat it, beat it..."

Ollie picked up the second verse;

" They're out to get you, better leave while you can

Don't wanna be a boy, you wanna be a man

You wanna stay alive, better do what you can

So beat it, just beat it

You have to show them that you're really not scared

You're playin' with your life, this ain't no truth or dare

They'll kick you, and they'll beat you, then they'll tell you it's fair

So beat it, but you wanna be bad..."

The gasps reached them just before the second set of the chorus could start, and the girls turned to see the grey stone had bled into white, golden sunlight streaming down to dapple the ground. The group gathered on an outcrop dusted with small tufts of grass, and Ollie balanced on her toes to peer over Gloin and Bifur's shoulders, mouth falling open at what she saw.

To their side was a pathway winding along the side of the mountain, trees packed densely to the side, emerald leaves fluttering in the breeze. The sunlight glinted at them from where it rested atop pools of water, and the Valley of Imladris winked at them in the sunlight.

As Ollie craned over to get a better view, she heard Bilbo sigh with the same reverence she felt;

"Rivendell."

At last.

Ollie should've known, really.

Should've known it wouldn't last, that she couldn't catch a break, keep her secret.

Should've known when she couldn't understand the words coming out of Thorins mouth; watching his lips move out of sync with the words she could only guess he was saying, wobbling her head round to see Gandalf was talking too, but the words were coming through water in her ears.

She should've known when she felt her face droop again, going numb, her right eye rolling about in its socket like it was trying to stretch away the uncomfortable feeling around it.

She should've known when her hand began to clench, the wrist twitching and flicking round and round, when she felt dizzy.

But she didn't notice any of these, too busy bouncing on her toes to feel the sudden butterflies in her stomach, and the sick feeling in her chest, just before she fell to the ground, convulsing.

* * *

And there we are guys! I've been suffering from writers block, oh, and life in general, but at long last; a chapter! Enjoy ;)

Next time; what's wrong with poor Ollie? How will the dwarves take it? Will the girls wanna stay safe in Rivendell? Or will they force their way into a super dangerous quest?


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